Obama’s Popularity Hits Near-Record High On Eve of Election

On his last day of barnstorming to preserve his legacy, President Barack Obama is approaching peak popularity.

Obama’s approval rating hit 56 percent in Gallup’s tracking poll on Monday, a reminder of his power as a surrogate as he travels to Michigan, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania to drum up the vote for Hillary Clinton. It’s rare for a two-term president to be in such high demand on the trail, and that level of popularity has been rare in Obama’s tenure. It’s the highest his rating in that poll has been since October 2012, shortly before he was re-elected, when he hit 57 percent. Other polls over the past month have shown similarly high ratings — all vastly better than those for either Clinton or Donald Trump.